Dominic Solanke was called up to the England squad by Lee Carsley, seven years after winning his first and only cap in a friendly against Brazil. The 27-year-old striker has been rewarded for his impressive form at Tottenham after joining the club from Bournemouth in a £55million summer deal.

However, Harry Maguire has been ruled out despite being declared fit to be included in Manchester United’s squad for Thursday night’s game against Porto. The 31-year-old missed Euro 2024 due to injury, but was recalled by Carsley for the two Nations League games in September. He started the game against Ireland in Dublin but was not used against Finland at Wembley Stadium.

Carsley said of the decision to leave Maguire out: “Harry is a player I have worked with in the past. He expressed himself very positively in the conversation we had. I was worried that the conversations were taking too long because he has a game tonight where the goal was to discuss why the decision was made. We have some really good centre-backs who I really want to see play. Harry still plays a really important role in this squad and this campaign.”

There were also no places for Tino Livramento, Jarrod Bowen or Eberechi Eze, but Kyle Walker returns after being left out of the squad in September. The full-back had not yet played club football in the 2024/25 season at the time the squad was announced after a long break after the European Championships. Jude Bellingham is also back after missing the games against Ireland and Finland in September due to injury.

Solanke, who hopes to feature in the Nations League games against Greece at Wembley next Thursday and against Finland in Helsinki three days later, has scored a goal in each of his last three games for Spurs. Solanke enjoyed a hugely successful youth career with England, winning the U17 European Championship in 2014 and the U20 World Cup three years later. However, his only senior appearance remains his appearance under Gareth Southgate as a late substitute.

Solanke recently told the Observer that one of his main goals for this season was to secure an England call-up. “Everyone wants to play for their country and it’s definitely something I want to get back into,” he said.

“Was England part of the idea behind my transfer? Not really. But when you do your job for a club like Tottenham, it’s definitely a lot easier to get into the team. Tottenham is my main target. But then hopefully I’ll make it into the England team.”